Deirdre (song)

"Deirdre" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1970 album Sunflower. Written by Bruce Johnston and Brian Wilson, it is a love song named after the sister of one of Johnston's ex-girlfriends and is one of Johnston's two main song contributions on the album, the other being "Tears in the Morning". In 1971, "Dierdre" was issued as the B-side of the "Long Promised Road" single. The single never charted in the US or the UK. In 1977, Johnston rerecorded the song for his solo album Going Public.

"Deirdre"
Single by The Beach Boys
from the album Sunflower
A-side"Long Promised Road"
ReleasedMay 24, 1971
RecordedFebruary 21 – March 21, 1969
StudioGold Star, Hollywood
Length3:27
LabelBrother
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys singles chronology
"Wouldn't It Be Nice (Live)"
(1971)		 "Deirdre"
(1971)		 "Surf's Up"
(1971)

Background

"Deirdre" was named after the sister of one of Johnston's ex-girlfriends.[1] Biographer Timothy White described the song as "a stroll-tempo devotional to an idealized, red-haired goddess; its stippled use of flutes plus the spacey filtering and compression techniques in the vocal mixes giving the track a celestial grandeur."[2] When asked about the song in 2013, Johnston explained:

I wrote all the music for the song and started writing the lyrics with Brian although that's not his strong point, even though we must remember that Brian wrote all the lyrics for songs like "Surfer Girl" and "'Til I Die". So "Deirdre" was kind of my song and I split it 50/50 with him. It’s really about 99% my baby.[3]

The song was recorded at Gold Star Studios on February 21 and March 21, 1969.[4]

Legacy

In their review of Sunflower, a Rolling Stone critic mentioned that the song "could be Beach Boys-influenced anybody".[5] Later in the 1970s, Johnston said in an interview that he regretted recording the song as a track by the Beach Boys.[6]

In 1994, "Deirdre" was sampled for the video game EarthBound. A sample of the a capella intro of the song is arranged into the music for the Cave of the Past area near the end of the game.[7]

Personnel

Sourced from Craig Slowinski[8] and Timothy White.[2]

The Beach Boys

Additional personnel

Production staff

References
  1. Badman 2004, p. 241.
  2. White, Timothy (2000). Sunflower/Surf's Up (CD Liner). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records.
  3. Sharp, Ken (September 4, 2013). "Bruce Johnston On the Beach Boys' Enduring Legacy (Interview)". Rock Cellar Magazine. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  4. Doe, Andrew Grayham. "GIGS69". Endless Summer Quarterly.
  5. DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (1992). The Rolling Stone Album Guide: Completely New Reviews: Every Essential Album, Every Essential Artist. Random House. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-679-73729-2.
  6. Badman 2004, p. 275.
  7. "The Beatles, Beach Boys and Monty Python really were in Earthbound". Destructoid. June 28, 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  8. Slowinski, Craig (Summer 2020). "Sunflower: 50 Year Anniversary Special Edition (Issue 130, Volume 33, No. 3)". Endless Summer Quarterly Magazine (Magazine). Charlotte, North Carolina, USA: David Beard.



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